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Classic New Japan

So lots of people have NJPW World now, and while mostly I'm sure people are watching the new stuff, there's a ton of older stuff too that people could be checking out. So here's a thread to talk about whether anyone's digging into those archives, or to offer suggestions of what to watch!

Just recently watched this one for the first time, for example:

Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody 9/16/86 NJPW Challenge Spirit Day 15

I admit, I wasn't sure if I should be excited about this match going in. I have seen plenty of great Inoki matches but I've also seen some dull ones, so it was by no means a sure thing that I'd enjoy him (especially as I knew going in this one had a run time of about an hour). And I know this goes in the face of the accepted narrative, but Bruiser Brody has been even more hit or miss whenever I come across him. Great aura, questionable as a wrestler, as it seems to depend on his mood whether he wants to actually work worth a damn or just sort of be a block that no sells everything and forces the other guy to do all the work. He's one of the very few guys that Bockwinkel couldn't carry to a good match in the Heenan series. But I've also seen him do really well, so I wanted to give the match a fair chance.

And in the end I have to say that, though it dragged a bit at times, on the whole this is a fairly great match! There is a very well defined sense of struggle and psychology, as they maximize Brody's intimidation factor yet he's also motivated to work hard in this one. Inoki spends a lot of time wearing down Brody, particularly going after the leg, and while at times it verged on being dull, still they stuck to the story and by the end had engaged me to the point where I was very into it. Basically whenever Inoki had the time and space to use his strategy he could keep his head above water, but if Brody got a big shot in, Inoki was in big trouble. Brody had a couple of awesome piledrivers in this that really wrecked Inoki, very impressive stuff. I don't know if I'd recommend this for just anyone, but if you have the stomach for a very lengthy match that takes time to pay off (but eventually does really well), then you might like this one! It's on NJPW World, so check it out if you have a mind to!